The BEST, that runs the second-largest public transport system in the city, has been in the red with its cumulative losses standing at around Rs 2,500 crore.

The cash-strapped Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has woken up to realise that it has been paying the Mumbai civic body, its parent authority, excess tax for more than a decade.

The BEST, that runs the second-largest public transport system in the city, has been in the red with its cumulative losses standing at around Rs 2,500 crore.

It recently came to light that the BEST has been paying sewage charges to the civic body under two different heads – water tax and property tax. While the total additional taxes paid may be a small amount, the gaffe only highlights the lackadaisical attitude of the authority that has hastened its financial ruin.

Now, the BMC may receive Rs96 crore from the civic body for payment of additional charges for all these years.

“The civic body has also realised that the BEST had been paying them extra tax every month. The excessive money comes up to Rs90 crore and they are ready to return the excess money. I have written to them to provide the money at the earliest.” said Anil Kokil, committee chairperson, BEST.

The BEST management has also alleged that the civic body had asked them to stop giving concessions to passengers due to their financial crunch.

The BEST authorities said that they had also asked the civic body to give them an additional Rs6 crore to continue these concessions.

“The civic body had asked us to temporarily stop the concession to passengers on bus tickets. We give concession to senior citizens, differently-abled and blind people. However, we have refused this and we expect the civic body to pay us to continue such concessions,” said a BEST official.